BulldogTom

I was skeptical of the fee collect product, until last year when Santa Barbra yanked the Rals and I could not get another bank. It has actually been a pleasant experience overall. The form is not too bad and if you train yourself early in the season to fill in all the right entry places, it does not add a whole lat to your time to prepare. I would recommend it. But possibly not right in the middle of the tax season. The first few times you use it you have to find all the little boxes and ID fields and fill them in. It is not very intuitive. But like I said, after you figure out how to fill in the form, it works really well. Tom Lodi, CA

On the first sentence, I can attest that a property can drop that much in value. Thank goodness it came back some, but I am so underwater in my house I will never be able to move. I bought in 2005 and my home was worth 35% of what I paid for it 18 months ago. And remember, the FMV that the bank is reporting is a made up number. They did not do a full blown appraisal. They guessed at what it was worth in a fire sale. Your second point. Because the property was taken, regardless of recourse or non-recourse, there was a disposition of an asset used in the production of income. That is reportable. The only question remains is if there is any cancelled debt. If the form is correctly filled out, then no. If there is recourse debt, then they might get a 1099C later and have to look for a code section to exclude the COD income. Tom Lodi, CA

I am with Pacun on this one. Helping out an inlaw does not rise to the level of a trade or business, therefore no SE tax. Line 21. Tom Lodi, CA

What if the property was bought in the high point in the housing market for 400K with a loan of 320K. 100K allocated to land and 300K allocated to the building. 5 years of depreciation is approx. 40K. Basis is 360k, sales price is 280K (balance of loan due), leaving a loss of 80K. I can make assumptions as well. We don't have the basis information, so we don't know if it will be a gain or a loss, but there will most likely be some kind of gain or loss on the disposition. Jainen did not say to wait, he said to dispose of the property like any other disposition. KC admited she did not take into account the rental aspect of the propery. If it was a personal residence, wait for the 1099C. Tom Lodi, CA

Nope. $1500 total over the two years. If you did his return last year, the amount of the prior year credit will populate on the form. Tom Lodi, CA

I am with Jainen on this one. That is a disposition of a property used for rental activity. Depending on the taxpayer's basis in the property, which chowderhead should have if the taxpayer has been his client for more than this year, there could actually be a loss on the disposition triggering a refund. Tom Lodi, CA

It is not just ATX. At my day job, our CPA is still holding one of our LLC tax returns waiting for the 8825 to be approved. I asked him about it yesterday and he double checked to make sure it could not be filed yet. I had the info to him by Jan 15th and the return was completed by Jan 31st. I think our CPA uses ProSystem fx. I just finished an LLC return last night on ATX with an 8825 for one of my clients and it is an approved form. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the tax form approvals this year. Tom Lodi, CA

Is it showing up on the 8879? The one I just did included the wording on the 8879 to show she was signing as surviving spouse. Tom Lodi, CA

Thanks Jainen. I think I have been listening to too many of the auto donation commercials on the radio. Tom Lodi, CA

I think some of us may have reached that point in the tax season where the amount of money we are making is not worth the crap we are putting up with. Every year, I cannot wait for tax season to start so I can start filling up my checking account. At some point in the tax season, I can't wait for it to get over. ARE WE THERE YET? Tom Lodi, CA

Client has lots of trucks in their business (C Corp). They drive them until they die and then donate to a local charity. They had 5 vehicles die this year. Fully depreciated. They did not include a donation on the books, just showed as sold for $0 and cleared from fixed assets and accumulated depreciation. The charity sent them 1098C for each of the vehicles with amounts from $1000 to $1500 on each vehicle. I know an individual would be able to take the FMV as a deduction (limited to the amount the charity sold the vehicles for), but I am fuzzy on if a corp can take the same deduction. Thanks in Advance. Tom Lodi, CA

Not sure about non-court appointed, but if you look at the e-file tabs, there is a place to put the name of the representative filing the return for the decedent. I just did one for a couple where one spouse died and the surviving spouse was signing for him. Be sure to do it on both the Fed and the state as the information does not flow from one to the other (got a rejection because I did not fill it out on the state form - easy fix). No overrides are neccessary. Hope this helps. Tom Lodi, CA

Welcome to the board Reese. Thanks for the input. Tom Lodi, CA

As mentioned above, you are still liable for any misconduct you personally do in your business. So there would be no real liability protection if you screwed up a tax return so bad that you got sued. With no real assets to protect, there would not be anything for a lawyer to go after if someone tripped in your office and sued you. In your scenario, insurance is better liability protection than choice of entity. The only reason I can see that you may want to consider another choice of entity is the new health care law. It may work out better for you (if you are providing your own health care) to be a corp in the future. But I would wait for all the details to work themselves out in congress and the courts before you think about that. Just my 2 cents. Tom Lodi, CA

I finally decided to follow the program and went to the disposition tab and filled it out correctly using the proper dates and the program did it for me. Adjusted the depreciation to the right amount and put it on the Sch E. Did not report on the 1040 as a sale. Sometimes you just need to stop trying to out think the software. It is kinda embarrassing that I even posted this. Tom Lodi, CA

If you are being brave and sending out your returns today, please post the experience with us. I am holding off for another day just in case the servers at CCH or IRS melt down. If it all looks good in the morning, I will be sending my 20+ returns that are sitting on my desk. Thanks Tom Lodi, CA

But KC, pampered chef sales reps are Sch. C businesses, like avon. Those would be SPFF in my humble opinion because the company giving them is not related to the Sole Proprietor. I vote for line 21. Tom Lodi, CA

Never mind. I got it. Tom Lodi, CA (but in Fresno today)

Clents got married last year. He has house, she has house. They move into his house and start renting her house 1/1/10. Renters trash the place and move out 8/15. They fix her house back up and decide to move into it. His house is empty now. They should get the 8 months of depreciation on the home for the period of rental. Shouldn't they? How do I make ATX give them that amount and then convert it to a personal residence again? I am away from my office without research material. Thanks Tom Lodi, CA (but in Fresno today)

How many years can you carry over the 30% solar energy credit? Thanks Tom Lodi, CA

JRS, that would be the one. How did you find it and how did you link it to this post? Can you do it on the gambling post that is active right now. I would like to be able to do that sometimes. Thanks Tom Lodi, CA

KC or Eric, This relates to the gambling losses topic on today's thread. There is a post on point on January 14, 2010 that was a continuation of an earlier post. I am trying to find the ealier post but I am striking out. I think that is the post that has the court case I am looking for. 2 questions. How do I find that earlier post on gambling and the court case? How do I link that post (if I ever find it) and the 1/14/10 post to the post that is active now? Thanks Tom Lodi, CA

Are you sure. I thought the judge clearly stated that each session, (and I think he said when you cash in your chips, that was a session) was an individual event and if it was a win it went to the 1040 and the losses went to the sch A. KC, you were in that discussion. Do you remember the case? I would like to read that thread again. Tom Lodi, CA

Gambling winnings go on the 1040. Gambling losses go on the sch A. There was a very interesting case that we discussed on this board last year that had to do with netting the winnings and losses. It basically came down to this reasoning. How much did you get when you cashed in at the end of your gambling session. If you were a net winner, that was the amount you had to claim on the front of the 1040. If you lost, that was the amount to go on the sch A. No mixing gambling sessions to net one day's winning against a different day's losses. Your clients are going down a very risky path. Guide them well. Tom Lodi, cA

Nice guys finish last. We don't have the agreement or all the facts, so this is just speculation. But in general, the split of a retirement account is normally a division of marital assets. If he did like KC is assuming he did, he just gave her his taxable income. It is a gift to her from him unless he wants to go back to court and try to get it back. Without more details, I am sticking by NOT alimony. Tom Lodi, CA